KMIA
KMIA '''(96.5 MHz), known as '''"Mia 96.5" is a Spanish Top 40 radio station serving the Houston, Texas area. It is owned by Studio Networks and its studios are located in Uptown Houston. The transmitter site is in Missouri City and shares tower space with sister KXIX. History For much of the early days of radio, KSUA (now KKZY) had been one of Houston's top AM stations, co-owned with The Houston Chronicle. In 1953, an FM station was added, 96.5 KSUA-FM. KSUA-AM-FM broadcasted a Jazz format. 96.5 KKGO In January 1975, "The Grand Tour" by George Jones ushered in a new format, and call sign to the 96.5 frequency, and "The KKGO Legend" was born. In the early days, KKGO was known as "K96 FM" and utilized what would be termed a freeform radio format, where each DJ would choose which records he wanted to play. Moving to Full-time Country By late 1975, KKGO had moved from Freeform to full-time Country with a structured playlist of only the top tracks from the best selling albums. The station changed its moniker to "96.5 KGO." KKGO achieved victory in early 1985 against format rival KTXH-FM, which soon changed its format to Urban Contemporary. Shortly thereafter, KKGO had another rival, "95.7 The Kick" (KIKK-FM) and both were involved in one of the fiercest Country battles of the late 1980s. KKGO once again won the battle as KIKK-FM flipped to Top 40 in 1989 (and is now KKHH). In 1990, KKGO was one of the top rated Country stations in the United States. KKGO featured legendary morning hosts Mark Stevens and Jim Pruett and their "Stevens and Pruett Show," chalking up both high ratings and several fines from the FCC for "offensive content." Dayna Steele anchored mid-days, and the "Steele-workers" were numerous. And in the evenings it was "Outlaw Radio", a Classic Country show with "a lot of attitude." KKGO was regularly in the Top 3 in that time frame. Changes in Ownership In 1993, Rodriguez-Baughman Media (predecessor to Studio Networks) bought KSUA/KAXA and KKGO for $49 million from Clear Channel Communications (now IHeartMedia). RB Media started to make changes to KKGO's sound by adding Classic Country to its playlist and virtually ignoring Bluegrass. In 1996, KKGO dropped the Classic Country and returned to full-time Modern Country. Mia 96.5 Rumors of a KKGO format change had been heard since at least 1999. Some had speculated on a switch to Rhythmic Oldies or Top 40 as "HOT 96.5." However, the January 8, 2003 edition of The Marshall & Clayton Show on KKGO informed listeners that if they wanted to keep listening, they had better learn Spanish. On January 10, 2003, after a rerun of the Marshall & Clayton Show, KKGO segued into the "8 O'Clock Country Block" as normal. Then, at 9AM, the station changed its format to Spanish Top 40 as "Mia 96.5". The 28 years of KKGO as a Country station had come to an end. The final six songs that KKGO played were: * Before I Knew Better - Brad Martin * Where You Lie Next To Me - Kellie Coffey * Life Happened - Tammy Cochran * I Should Be Sleeping - Emerson Drive * Somebody Like You - Keith Urban * The Grand Tour ''- George Jones (also the first song played on K96 FM) "Mia" launched with "Suerte" by Shakira and aired 9,650 songs in a row. By January 21, the call sign was changed to the current KMIA. In 2004, RB Media acquired two low-powered translators, K222ML (92.3 FM) in Freeport and K296RC (107.1 FM) in Huntsville to rebroadcast KMIA's signal to those cities, which the main signal can't reach. In December of that year, KMIA moved its transmission site to the Missouri City antenna farm, and now covers all of the Houston and adjacent areas. RB sold both translators in 2006. During this time, KMIA was the only Spanish Pop station in Houston until 2005, when sister KSAM became a Spanish-language Hot Adult Contemporary station. The difference between both stations is that KSAM broadcasts Latin Pop and Rock from the 90s to today, while KMIA airs Spanish currents. When KSAM flipped to a simulcast of KAXA (AM)'s news format in January 2011, KMIA tweaked the Spanish Hot AC format to its playlist. This would last until March 20, when their Spanish Tropical sister station "El Sol 106.1" KESL picked up the format, and it became "Digital 106.1". '''Simulcast with KXIX' ]] In the fall of 2014, sister station KXIX began simulcasting KMIA. RB Media stated that KXIX's Classic Hits format was struggling to maintain excellent ratings for the past 2 years. On November 15, 2014, at 10:19 AM, KXIX joined KMIA, and both became "Mia 101.9 y 96.5". "Mia 96.5" Today In May 2017, KXIX broke off from the simulcast to become a Rhythmic AC outlet. In May 2018, KMIA gained its first two competitors, iHeartMedia's KZPT 106.9 FM (who was recently acquired from Cox Radio) and Bahakel Communications' KHXO 94.1 FM. The station also tweaked some English Pop currents to help out KXIX, now a Top 40 station, from its competitors. Morning Shows During the "Mia" era, the station had been through several morning shows. Hosts such as Diego Martinez (formerly of KESL), Adrian Davis (formerly of KIVE), and Angelica Cruz (from WRTO/Miami) were previously heard between 2003 to 2012. On April 5, 2012, it was announced that "Los Roomies" would become the new morning show, consisting of former WMXA host Jenni Garcia, San Diego native DJ, Marcos "Markie" Rubio, Penelope Sterner (from sister KLBA/Los Angeles), and the return of Diego Martinez. HD Radio In early 2004, KGO was "resurrected" and came back on KMIA-HD2. In November 2014, a decade later, KGO would once again depart from Houston as it would flip to Classic Regional Mexican as "La Raza". "La Raza" would last until February 2017, when it flipped to Spanish Oldies as "La Suavecita". As of September 2018, KMIA-HD2 was renamed "Leticia", retaining the Spanish Oldies format. Category:Spanish Top 40 radio stations Category:Houston Category:Texas Category:Texas radio stations Category:96.5 FM Category:Radio stations established in 1973 Category:Mas Media Category:Stations broadcasting in HD Radio Category:Quintana Media Group